Fundraising Sprint
This is a 6-week sprint that condenses fundraising preparation from months to weeks, designed for early-stage founders who aim to secure funding by late summer or early Fall.
Ready. Set.
Raise.
Together, we will help you run a tight & rapid process, generate authentic FOMO & momentum, build investor lists, land meetings, and hone your pitch – with coaching, peer support, and accountability.
This is a collaborative program, not a self-guided course, alongside a curated cohort of equally ambitious founders. We break it down into digestible steps that keep you on pace for your fundraising goal.
Our methodology works. Only .05% of companies successfully raise venture capital. Our Winter Cohort Sprint + had a 70% success rate (met funding goal), with an average round of $1.28M.
“Quinn and Adam didn’t just give me coaching—they gave me a process. One that replaced guesswork with clarity, confidence, and precision. Other founders kept saying, ‘You’re raising your pre-seed with the diligence of a Series A.’ I shudder to think of the rookie mistakes I would’ve made without them.”
-Leni
6-Weeks of Fundraising Focus
-
8 Coach-Guided Discussion Group Sessions
Weekly Coach-Guided Troubleshooting Sessions with Adam or Quinn
Scheduled Curriculum to guide your fundraising effort (Podcast-style Content)
16+ Pitch Practice Sessions with your Peers
Guest Speakers - live and recorded
24/7 Access to our Online Community Platform with:
Private online space for cohort collaboration: sharing wins, lessons, and more
Spot coaching from Quinn & Adam - like chat support
A library of vetted resources
(Summer Sprint +) 6X Fundraising Strategy 1:1 Sessions with Adam
(Summer Sprint +) 3X Perfect Your Pitch 1:1 Sessions with Quinn
-
Earn 40-80+ investor introductions
Optimized deck and fundraising materials
Prepared and confident to pitch investors
Avoid the potholes of fundraising
-
Build your investor list, land meetings, and become a fundraising machine
Refine your pitch materials; access our templates & custom CRM
Hone your process and pitch with direct coaching and guidance
Fuel your momentum with peer support & peer motivation - don’t do it alone
Understand investor decision-making and psyche
Develop a strong network of fellow founders for ongoing support
-
You are raising your first or second non-family & friends round - typically pre-seed or seed ($500K-$5M+)
You are looking to run a tight process and close your raise late summer/ fall
You already have a rough draft pitch deck, traction (enough to raise), the team, and the product
-
The 6-Week sprint cost breakdown:
Fundraising Sprint: $1,200
Fundraising Sprint+ : $2,400
Summer 2025 Deadlines:
Applications Open: June 10th
Interviews Begin: June 23rd
Sprint Start: July 14th (Orientation July 11th)
Meet your coaches
We have been in your shoes, raised 5 rounds of funding for our own startups (from Lerer Hippeau, Pear Ventures, Founder Collective, Y Combinator, Natalie Portman, Reign Ventures, Underscore, Ludlow, and more), sold our companies, received some awards (Time Best Invention. FastCo Most Innovative), coached over 50 founders directly, mentored at Techstars and Harvard ilab, and helped founders raise over $63M in funding.
Quinn Fitzgerald
Quinn Fitzgerald is a founder coach and mission-driven entrepreneur who helps early-stage founders lead with clarity, resilience, and courage. She founded and sold Flare, a VC-backed women’s safety tech company recognized by Time and Fast Company, and previously served in the Obama White House. Quinn holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, where she won the New Venture Competition.
Blending startup expertise with deep inner work, she coaches a referral-only roster of founders backed by firms like Andreessen Horowitz, Bessemer, YC, Khosla, Lowercarbon, Reach, Collab, Techstars, Flybridge, VMG, and Chevron. Quinn serves as an unbiased sounding board for everyday and big decisions, from someone who has been there before.
Adam Roberts
Adam Roberts was an Athlete (five years on the USA Sailing Team) before becoming the first sales hire at inDinero, helping them achieve their first $1 million in revenue. After his time at inDinero, Adam founded his own company, Paid Labs, and participated in Y Combinator’s Summer 2014 batch. Before being acquired, he was backed by top-tier early-stage funds, including Pear Ventures and Founder Collective.
Following the sale of Paid Labs, Adam re-discovered his passion for early-stage fundraising while at Wefunder as an Entrepreneur in Residence, which inspired him to launch Lifted.vc. Lifted has now helped founders raise over $40M in pre-seed and seed funding.
The Schedule:
INTERVIEWS START JUNE 23RD.
Our Coaching Philosophy
Founder-Focused: We've been in your shoes and understand your challenges.
Unbiased Sounding Board: honest feedback and guidance to reach your goals
No Ego: Our coaching isn’t driven by our own egos or experience bias, and we have no problem if you throw it in your mental trash bin.
Dual: We provide tactical strategies to get things done and mental support to navigate the emotional rollercoaster of fundraising.
Engaging: Fundraising can suck, but we make it deliberately enjoyable and interactive.
Direct: You don't have time to waste. We cut to the chase and help you get results.
Frequently asked questions
-
We created by far the most cost effective and comprehensive 6-week high-touch fundraising prep program (ever?)
Summer Sprint: $1,200
1x Weekly Group Meeting
1 Weekly Troubleshooting Session
Scheduled Curriculum
16+ Pitch Practice Sessions
24/7 Access to our Online Community Platform
Summer Sprint + (w/ 1:1 Coaching): $2,400
Everything in Summer Sprint
6X Fundraising Strategy Coaching Sessions (30 min each)
3X Perfect Your Pitch Sessions (1 hour each)
-
First things first, we are NOT an accelerator. We purposefully do not take equity in your startup because we want to remain unbiased and solely focused on your fundraising goals.
We are not here to be business advisors. We take a deep fundraising focus, from a founder perspective (as we are founders). We purposefully built the most founder-friendly terms possible for the Sprint, because we want this knowledge and coaching to be accessible. The Fundraising Sprint, to our knowledge, is the highest-converting and least expensive option on the market.
But also, no! Exchanging equity instead of cash does not make it free—your equity is worth millions of dollars.
To be clear, accelerators are awesome and in many cases, more than worth it. We have had many accelerator alums participate in our sprints.
-
Right now, you don’t! But we help you evaluate. We do not accept founders who do not have a high chance of success. Why? It’s a question of ethics - as founders-turned-coaches we see far too many people taking advantage of early-stage founders out there. Also, we care about our conversion rate and insist on maintaining improving on our already high 70% post-program funding rate.
-
Yes!
We ONLY select teams that we strongly believe will be able to successfully fundraise within 6 months.
-
Early-stage fundraising is an extremely human-centric process. It is not naturally scalable, and every fundraising effort will be a time-intensive experience. Without a fundraising strategy founders end up spinning their wheels and making critical errors. The sprint is designed to help you save time by focusing on the right things at the right time.
Here is a breakdown of what we see as a weekly average commit:
Sprint Meetings: 2-3
Sprint Content: 1-2
Asynchronous work (sourcing, networking, connector meetings, etc) : 20-60
Time we are saving you: Not hours, not days… Months!
The average time to close after the program was 2.5 months
(Summer Sprint+) 1:1 Coaching: 1 hour
-
A common misconception is that fundraising begins when you start pitching. This results in infrequent pitches and an inability to drive momentum and urgency with investors.
The prep is just as important as the pitching itself. Set yourself up for success by ensuring you are getting in front of thesis-fit investors, at volume, in a short amount of time, with the messaging that performs.
-
Ask us! This is a highly complex question – there are numerous variables that contribute to this decision. Just to name a few…
Market timing
Revenue
Product readiness
Traction
How much do you need to raise— now and later
Long-term funding outlook: what do you need to raise and when?
-
Fill out our questionnaire: https://forms.gle/fond2rUCaYpk1wN77
30-minute interview - invite only
Followups as necessary
MADE IT THIS FAR? APPLY! →